I stumbled on a fan-made 8-bit style Megaman game randomly the other day when I was on Youtube, called Megaman Unlimited. It's pretty solid from what I've played of it so far (made it to Wily's castle stage 1). It's probably the hardest 8-bit Megaman I've played to date; the level design is very solid, and insidious at the same time. I encourage anybody that loves Megaman, and longs for Capcom to finally make an official Megaman 11, to check this out.

This is one of the best fangames I've ever played, it really gets the look and feel of Megaman. I say that because most fangames really miss the game feel and flow of the games that they are trying to copy, but Megaman Unlimited has that aspect down perfectly.I do think the levels are too long and the check points are really bad, but the Robot Masters weapons are top notch - better than most of the real series. I'd put it behind the really great classic Megaman games (2,3 and 9), but Megaman Unlimited is definitely really good.

Eh, I really don't get all the praise flowing into this game. There's too many cases of 'pixel perfect timing/jumps' that artificially inflate the difficulty through the roof. I even went back and played a few of the original Megamans to confirm this is not 'how it used to be'. Even official Megaman games like X6 get crap for poor stage design like this where the designer just gets lazy and goes "Hmm...I dunno how I can legitimately make this level interesting and challenging...oh well, spikes everywhere. Call it good."

Yes, the controls are solid.Yes, the music is beautiful.Yes, the bosses are fun and interesting (the ones I've gotten to fight).

No, some of the stages are very poorly designed. Especially Nitro Man's stage. There's quite a few cases there where not even the in game items used for difficulty alleviation work properly. Massive chasms with exploding platforms you only get to use once that have a backlash effect that can mess up your jump while enemies are also flying across the screen and shooting projectiles? Should be okay, you can buy Beat and get a out of jail free card for pits...oh wait...the level is designed so that Beat can't reach any of the platforms. So you just die again having wasted screws on a mechanically malfunctioning item.

Eh, I really don't get all the praise flowing into this game. There's too many cases of 'pixel perfect timing/jumps' that artificially inflate the difficulty through the roof. I even went back and played a few of the original Megamans to confirm this is not 'how it used to be'. Even official Megaman games like X6 get crap for poor stage design like this where the designer just gets lazy and goes "Hmm...I dunno how I can legitimately make this level interesting and challenging...oh well, spikes everywhere. Call it good."

Yes, the controls are solid.Yes, the music is beautiful.Yes, the bosses are fun and interesting (the ones I've gotten to fight).

No, some of the stages are very poorly designed. Especially Nitro Man's stage. There's quite a few cases there where not even the in game items used for difficulty alleviation work properly. Massive chasms with exploding platforms you only get to use once that have a backlash effect that can mess up your jump while enemies are also flying across the screen and shooting projectiles? Should be okay, you can buy Beat and get a out of jail free card for pits...oh wait...the level is designed so that Beat can't reach any of the platforms. So you just die again having wasted screws on a mechanically malfunctioning item.

Sorry that just kills the package right there.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I do agree with you on your example in Trinitro Man's stage with the exploding platforms. I never figured out the trick to overcome that obstacle, so I always use rush jet to get past them.

The other things that seem to artificially elevate the difficulty, however, I actually enjoy in retrospect. The first few times through a stage are very frustrating, and I get mad at the game for being unfair. But then once I grasp the pattern and make it through, I get that euphoric feeling of accomplishment. If I die again at that same part, I get mad at myself, not the game, which is quite similar to my experience with Dark Souls. Now I can get through most of the stages without dying because of all the trial and error, which was also a common theme when I played 9 and 10. So... aside from the exploding platforms, a ladder bug in yo-yo man's stage, and a spike bug in wily stage 2, I think this game's got some awesome level design, especially for the hardcore megaman enthusiast.